Mitsubishi's Dexterous Robots for Factory Automation

Mitsubishi has released the latest in a series of vertical-axis robots that are designed to perform particularly dexterous and complex tasks formerly operated by humans in a factory setting. RV-F is the new release in the company’s
F series of six-axis vertically articulated robots designed for speed, precision, and ease of integration, according to the company.

Advanced features such as a force torque sensor and coordinated motion and automatic collision avoidance make the RV-F and F-series robots particularly well-suited for tasks such as material handling, machine tending, assembly, picking, packing, kitting, dispensing, and inspection, Sunny Ainapure, a senior product manager for Mitsubishi Electric Automation, told Design News. “Vertical articulated arms are more flexible and can help reduce the cost of other components in an application,” he said. These tasks, usually reserved for humans, can now be performed by robots like those in the F-series.

The RV-F, the latest in Mitsubishi’s F series vertical-axis robots for factory-automation systems, has been designed to handle dexterous and complex tasks that previously were difficult for robots to complete. (Source: Mitsubishi Electric)

Indeed, even as assembly and processing tasks become more complex, factories and production plans are looking to reduce costs and improve productivity through more automation. Mitsubishi and other companies offering robots for factory-automation systems are responding to this need with more sophisticated technology that can do more, Ainapure said. “The new F series are faster, have higher payload, larger work envelops, much higher toleration of inertia, collision avoidance, robot cooperation, have dress packages through the center of the last axis, force torque sensors, and have grease changes at 24,000 hours,” he told us.

Specifically, the F-series robots include SCARA robots with payload capacities of 3kg, 6kg, 12kg, and 20kg, and articulated robots that offer 2kg, 4kg, and 7kg payload capacities. Each new F-series model comes with improvements in operating speed, Z-axis speed, and/or operating range, depending on the robot selected, the company said.

The RV-F also features internal routing of cables and hoses, as well as standard features that span the entire F-series line. Those include 64-bit RISC processing, multi-task programming, plug-and-play interface to Cognex cameras, and USB and RS232 ports, which make them easy to connect to a PC. Mitsubishi’s F-series robots also comply with ANSI/RIA/ISO 10218-1-2007 safety standards and are available in CE for global acceptance. They are available in both vertical and horizontal configurations, according to Mitsubishi.

I think not only will the cost of production in China going up cause a boost in robotics, but the quality of production from low cost countries it atrousious (sp?). If it comes from China it will be in the trash sooner than later. One thing I believe most manufacturers are starting to come to grips with is you have to manage the quality of anything coming from a low cost country. And in order to do that properly you often have to spend more money in the states than you saved by going over seas. It's too bad the accounting and upper management world can't see that.

Yet another task that can be performed more effectively by a robot. The one feature that probably can't be seen here is the speed. While attending Pack Expo last year, I was amazed by the speed of the robots, which often did tasks that had previously been reserved for humans.

From the above article it seems that the manufacturing segment has a need for increased speed, lifting capacity, service life and robot to robot coordination (all of which improve productivity and profitability).

With wages in some low-cost regions like China now creeping upwards, I wonder if there will be a slight sales increase in robotics due to some manufacturers now investing in the replacement of human workers with robots.

A few weeks ago, Ford Motor Co. quietly announced that it was rolling out a new wrinkle to the powerful safety feature called stability control, adding even more lifesaving potential to a technology that has already been very successful.

It won't be too much longer and hardware design, as we used to know it, will be remembered alongside the slide rule and the Karnaugh map. You will need to move beyond those familiar bits and bytes into the new world of software centric design.

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